Jonathan Brown

Leeds medical staff’s rescue of a man whose back pain turned out to be life-threatening internal bleeding will be shown on BBC Two on Tuesday.

Tony Dakers, of Hemsworth, was home alone getting ready for work as a maintenance engineer the day after his 61st birthday on November 5 when he collapsed and called for help, telling 999 staff “I’m dying”.

Tony Dakers.

Paramedics rushed to the scene as it emerged that the father-of-one had suffered a triple abdominal aortic aneurism – a swelling of the largest blood vessel in the body – and was taken to Leeds General Infirmary.

Tony, who spent seven weeks in hospital after his collapse, will feature as part of the ‘An Hour to Save Your Life’ series on BBC Two on Tuesday at 9pm.

He told the YEP: “I felt like I was thumped in the middle of the back. I knew it was something serious, so I managed to crawl into the bedroom and rang my mother-in-law to tell her to call an ambulance. They rang me and asked if I was okay and I just said ‘I’m dying’.”

On arrival at LGI Tony was fast-tracked to the Leeds trauma unit where surgeons fought to stop his massive bleeding, which was causing his kidneys and bowel to shut down. They were successful but complications followed when he developed blood clots in his legs that resulted in further procedures.

Tony, who has since raised over £700 for Leeds hospitals, added: “The most upsetting thing is talking about for other people, what they went through and what it would have been like if I’d have died.”

The An Hour to Save Your Life series follows doctors and patients who face making life or death decisions during the first hour of emergency care.